A woman was looking for fossils on a Florida beach when she came across the mother lode—a large, fossilized megalodon tooth. She couldn’t contain her excitement as she spotted the tooth partially buried in the sand, started recording a video, and then realized that the tooth was both massive and wholly intact. She shared her video online, and it went viral with 11 million views on Instagram so far.
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Nikki, who goes by nikkitheasian on social media, is the amateur fossil hunter who found the tooth, and it’s not her first one. In the video, she exclaims, “another one!” And, in fact, she’s found a few other megalodon teeth so far in her searches. But that didn’t make this find any less special for her or for all the people watching her viral video.
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“Biggest megalodon tooth I have found this year!” wrote Nikki in her Instagram post sharing the video.
People in the comments section applaud her wholesome reaction and her insane luck.
“As a hobbyist of paleontology that is amazing. What a find,” wrote one person. “Knowing that you found the tooth the largest shark ever some theorize up to 90 feet [. . . ] How exciting for you. Keep us posted if you have it tested and what you did with it too. Thank you for sharing this exciting clip.”
Megalodon sharks were the largest sharks to have ever lived on Earth, and they went extinct about 3.6 million years ago, according to fossil records. Scientists believe these massive predators could grow to be 60 feet long, possibly even longer. Their teeth were up to about 7 inches long.
See a woman’s reaction when she finds a megalodon tooth on a Florida beach here:
Header stock image of Megalodon tooth vs. great white shark tooth by Mark Kostich/Getty Images
